1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a patterned polarization plate that is used for three-dimensional (3D) image display, an image display apparatus, and an image display system having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, there is a polarized glass method (passive glasses) as a 3D display method. This method has a large merit of causing no deterioration of image qualities during two-dimensional (2D) display, and can be termed a powerful method since 2D and 3D can be switched in a case in which there is an insufficient amount of 3D content. In the passive glass method, light emitted from a display panel is made to have two different kinds of polarization states (for example, right polarization/right-handed circularly polarized light and left polarization/left-handed circularly polarized light), and polarization glasses that are configured to have a polarization plate that transmits only one polarization and another polarization plate that transmits only the other polarization are used to observe a display screen, whereby images are stereoscopically recognized.
In the passive glasses method, a patterned phase difference plate is used in order to turn emitted light into two different kinds of polarization states. Generally, the patterned phase difference plate is composed of a patterned phase difference layer in which slow axes and/or phase difference areas having different phase differences are regularly disposed, and a supporter that supports the patterned phase difference layer (for example, JP2001-59949 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,285). In the past, a glass substrate was used as the supporter, but a patterned phase difference film (FPR) for which a film is used as the supporter is gaining attention from the viewpoint of handling properties, a decrease in the thickness, a decrease in the weight, and the like (for example, JP4508280B).
Meanwhile, one of the most important items in evaluating the qualities of 3D images is crosstalk. Crosstalk in a 3D image can be indicated by the degree of how well predetermined light for 3D display is made incident to the right eye and the left eye respectively in a desirable form, that is, the proportion of the amount of display information light for the right eye which is incident to the left eye and the proportion of the amount of display information light for the left eye which is incident to the right eye, and, naturally, the image qualities of 3D display improve as crosstalk decreases. There is a concern that crosstalk may significantly intensify in a case in which the FPR is used in the passive glasses method. One of the causes for the above is the dimensional change of the FPR. In a case in which the supporter of the patterning phase difference layer is a glass substrate, the dimensional change due to the temperature and humidity of the environment becomes small, and, once a pattern on the patterned phase difference layer and pixels on the display panel are precisely aligned, then, position deviation does not easily occur. On the other hand, with the FPR, since the dimensions of the film of the supporter significantly change due to the temperature and humidity of the environment, position deviation between a pattern on the patterned phase difference layer and pixels occurs due to environmental conditions and the dimensional change of the supporter film even after the pattern and the pixels are aligned. Particularly, in a liquid crystal display panel, the dimensions of a glass substrate included in a liquid crystal cell seldom change, and thus position deviation due to the dimensional change of the supporter film of the FPR becomes significant.
As a method for solving the above problems, increasing the width of a black matrix in a pixel portion of the FPR or the display panel, or the like can be considered.